


Tangled together

by Ratsnoot



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Mild shipping, metal virus saga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24522595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratsnoot/pseuds/Ratsnoot
Summary: (set between issue 24 and 25)Tangle has been lost to the metal virus that is consuming the planet and all that lives on it. She is just one more victim in thousands, but two people are drawn together over her loss.(Cannon divergence- what if Blaze returned?)
Relationships: Blaze the Cat/Tangle the Lemur, Tangle the Lemur/Whisper the Wolf, blaze the cat/whisper the wolf
Kudos: 10





	Tangled together

**Tangled together**

Blaze turned, summoning the energy of the Sol emeralds to return to her own world. It had been another chaotic adventure in this one, but despite all the danger it posed, she saw it almost as a secret holiday away from her duties. The princess of the Sol emeralds was reluctant to leave, but her home needed looking after as much as this one did. As much as she appreciated the solitude in her work, it did get lonely, and she wished Silver or Amy could come with her for a mini vacation of their own. They had more than earned it after all. 

**“WAAAAIIT!”**

The energy of the sol emeralds spiked from her control and sizzled the air around her as Blaze whirled about in surprise. Behind her, Silver had also leapt into action, psychic energy glowing at his fingertips. They both relaxed, however, at the source of the shout: panting and dishevelled, Tangle the lemur was bent double and grinning sheepishly. 

“Sorry, I didn`t mean to- I mean I didn`t realise you were leaving so soon! Are you both going?” Straightening up she looked to Silver, who shook his head still looking startled. 

“Uh, no, no I`m staying. Is everything okay?” 

“What? Yeah! No, everything`s fine!” Tangled laughed and seemed to realise what a commotion she had caused with her dramatic entrance, her pale fur revealing the pink flush heating her cheeks. “Jeez, oh man I`m so sorry you guys I only just heard you were going  _ now _ and I really wanted to say goodbye.” Blaze, who had remained silent throughout, felt a twinge of guilt. She hadn`t made a big deal of leaving, she didn`t like the attention that that brought with it, but being caught slipping away made her ashamed of her actions. 

“Don`t apologize, I should have sought you out first, I wasn`t thinking properly.” Inside, she started to steal herself for a gathering of people and noise, all too familiar guilt at not appreciating the affection bubbling up at the back of her mind. 

“Hey no biggie!” The lemur waved her off and glanced at Silver, who was watching them both curiously. “I just- I mean I get it, you`re a princess, you`ve got important stuff and I- ah heck I`m holding you up even more now, aren`t I?” She giggled nervously and shot another self-conscious glance at Silver. “I uh- I just wanted you to take something with you, if you want, I mean, it`s a gift so you can do what you want with it but just-” She broke off from her sonic speed babbling and held out a small box, haphazardly wrapped in ribbon. 

Blaze blinked, her mind trying to process all of what the now definitely blushing lemur had said, the gift entirely unexpected. Dumbly, she reached out and took the box from Tangle, pulling at the ribbons sealing it shut.

“Thankyou, you-“  _ shouldn`t have, _ Blaze had barely began before Tangle`s hands clamped over her own and trapped the box between them.

“Nodon`topenit!” The lemur squealed. Blaze froze, personal space thoroughly invaded by the sudden pounce, Tangle`s bright purple eyes staring up at her from mere inches away. “Not yet- i-it`s uh- uhh priv- no, personal.” The princess glanced at Silver, who was blatantly staring in utter confusion. The confusion was sliding into concern, however, as he got over his own surprise and knew how much Blaze valued a respectful distance between herself and others. In a single glance, they shared a silent communication. Blaze shook her head at the hedgehog`s question, regaining her composure and gently pulling away from the poor flustered lemur. “Yeah, personal, it`s nothing important, just a little embarrassing. Like, you can open it if you want?”

“Tangle.  **Tangle.”** She snapped to attention at the sound of her own name and fell into a sudden silence. “This is obviously important to you and so it is important to  _ me _ . I`ll take this with me and open it somewhere quiet. Having something from this world to take with me will be something to look forward to for when I`m missing you all.” Blaze hoped she hadn`t overdone the formal tone of her speech, making it sound too cold or dismissive. The bright spark of joy that lit Tangle`s fuzzy features reassured her and banished her worries instantly.

“Ohhh thank goodness!” The lemur laughed and relaxed, stepping back to a more comfortable distance. “I thought I had totally blown it by leaping on you and rambling and, oh man, get it together Tangle.” She took a breath and smiled shakily. “I really _ really _ liked meeting you and fighting beside you, you`re one of the coolest people I`ve met and I`ve met a lot of awesome people. I know you have important things to do but if you ever have a free moment, please come see m- us again, I bet we`ll have loads to talk about and there`s so much I would love to show you! Have a safe journey, uh, dimension jump, whatever, I won`t hold you up any longer haha!” With that, Tangle backed away and fired a salute and a wink before vanishing out the door.

“… So, what`s in the box?”

“Silver!” Blaze scolded the bemused hedgehog, who hastily held up his hands in mock surrender.

“I`m joking I`m joking!” He raised an eyebrow. “But seriously, what was all that about? She was talking so fast I couldn`t understand half of what she was saying, and personal stuff? She doesn`t strike me as, well, shy. I don`t get it?” Blaze shook her head and smiled, looking at the wrapped box in her hands. 

“I`m sure I`ll find out next time I see her.”

. . . 

Silver was exhausted. Everyone was exhausted. The atmosphere on the evacuation shuttle was thick with loss and shock. In a mere forty-eight hours they had lost nearly everyone, the remaining survivors too stricken with grief to be of any real comfort to each other. Like most of them, Silver had found a secluded spot to slump down and try to rest while they had a chance to breathe. He didn`t want to sleep, but despite his anxious mind insisting he stay alert, his body had gone on auto-pilot after a replenishing meal and he found himself nodding off nestled against a crate of supplies.

“Silver…”

The drowsy hedgehog ignored the voice, not fully registering its existence until-

“Silver? Wake up! I`m sorry, you clearly need rest but you have to wake up and tell me what`s going on.” He groaned and suddenly jerked awake when he felt a pressure on his arm, pulling away defensively.

“Wh- Blaze?!” He exclaimed, bleary eyes focusing on the concerned feline face peering down at him. “What are you doing here? I thought- oh, oh man Blaze it`s awful here, I can`t believe it.” Silver winced as he got up, his whole body felt like a bruise. Thankfully, he hadn`t sustained many physical injuries while fighting at the tundra, but that much use of his powers took its toll. Blaze reached out to steady him and he took her hand gratefully.

“You`re hurt! Silver, please, where is everyone? What`s happened here, why wasn`t I called on?” 

As the poor hedgehog retold the tragic events, Blaze stayed silent, only her twitching tail betraying any distress she was experiencing. Finally, she took a breath and squeezed Silver`s hand.

“I`m sorry… I`m sorry I wasn`t there to help, I`m sorry you went through this alone.” Silver heard the rough catch in her voice and swallowed back the sudden lump that clutched in his throat. “I should have been here sooner-”

**“Don`t.”** Silver interjected. “Don`t blame yourself, it`s all anyone is doing right now and it`s not anything we can change, not now. You still haven`t told me why you`re here though, if the Sol emeralds didn`t warn you of any of this then… Is there trouble on your world?” Blaze shook her head with a rueful smile.

“No, no none at all, everything`s fine at home. So fine I figured I could get away for a social call even, heh, believe it or not.” For the first time since waking Silver noticed his friend was dressed with extra care and precision than usual, her customary purple coat decorated with a flower pin, red shoes polished to a gleam, and there was even a small amount of makeup highlighting her slanted cat`s eyes and a dark hue dusting her eyelids.

“Social call?” He echoed, taking in her altered appearance. “Has rouge or Amy been talking to you or something?” It felt good to be gossiping, like everything was normal. Blaze laughed self consciously and brushed her hair back in a nervous gesture. For a moment they were just two friends teasing each other, and he felt a smile creeping up on him until Blaze`s next words stopped it short.

“Hush you, I`m not _ that _ uptight. Still, it seems so silly now but, well, where`s Tangle? I need to return her a favour…”

.  . .

The room was dark and quiet, but not dark or quiet enough. Whisper could still see the grey outlines of the small bed and stand beside it. The evacuation shuttle wasn`t meant for long term residence at all, but a few haphazard bedrooms had been set aside for passengers to rest in if on a particularly long journey. The other four rooms were being shared by the handful of surviving friends and families, only this one was privately housing the grief-stricken wolf. She felt bad for hogging the space to herself, but it was nothing compared to the guilt and rage that drowned out everything else. It was stupid, she figured, to want to be alone when what you wanted most was the presence of a friend.

It wasn`t that the others didn`t like her, if anything, they all seemed eager to get to know her and involve her in their group shenanigans. It was something wrong with her own attachment. The ones she got close to all got hurt, she was a living curse. Whisper longed for Claire`s gentle patience, Smithy`s big warm arms around her, Slinger`s sharp toothed smile and even sharper wit, but most of all, she wanted  **her** . She`d realised too late just how much she liked Tangle. The energetic lemur had a magnetism that Whisper had been drawn to instantly and couldn`t help wanting her to like her back. It had all happened so quickly, Tangle had gone from being another well meaning but unwanted individual trying to pry away Whisper`s steely resolve to stay solo, to becoming her whole world. It wasn`t healthy, she knew that, but having her mind filled with someone who was  _ actually there _ , laughing and chatting right beside her was something she hadn`t had in years. It had been wonderful, and, of course, it had to end in disaster.

Another shudder of bitter fury wracked her body, curled up on the floor she once more clutched her head in her claws, feeling more of her pale hair pull loose and more tears continue to matt her already clogged fur. She hoped she looked as wretched as she felt, she didn`t know how else to express the sheer pain and anger that threatened to blot out her very existence. A small, cynical voice quipped at her to stop being so selfish, it was Tangle who had suffered, not her. Why was she the one wallowing in self-pity? That little voice didn`t stand a chance, however, against the seemingly endless rush of emotion that swept the miserable wolf away in a tidal wave of despair.

_ Tap tap. _

Whisper froze, battling with the longing for comfort and the presence of another to help ease her pain, and the fierce anger that urged her to scream at them to get away from her. Torn in two, she was unable to respond at all, scared even to move a muscle lest she fall apart.

“Hello? I`m… I`m coming in, okay?” The voice was unfamiliar and the threat of a stranger finally pushed her to a resolve.

“Please go away.” Whisper tried to say, but her voice was too rough, too clogged up with grief. “I don`t need-  _ please _ , I need to be alone.” Light spilled into the room and a pair of golden eyes found the huddled shape flinching back against the wall. The owner of the eyes said nothing as they let themselves into the room and sat down on the bed, pulling the door half closed behind them so that only a sliver of light sliced down the wall and catching their face.

It was the purple cat that had fought Neo Metal Sonic, the one with pyrokinetic powers. Whisper recognised Blaze with a distant confusion, hadn`t she returned to her home world? Perhaps she had come to help them again.  _ Too late for that.  _ The thought rose unbidden with a surge of resentment that Whisper grappled with, losing herself once more to the torrent of emotions threatening to split her head open. The latest tidal wave of feeling passed, and Whisper realised that Blaze still hadn`t spoken, wasn`t even looking at her. The wolf wanted quiet, but couldn`t bear sharing it with another, not like this, she caved and broke the silence.

“What do you want?” She asked, and Blaze finally looked at her with a blank face.

“I want to talk to Tangle.” Said Blaze. Whisper paused, unsure as to how she should respond.

“Can`t.” Was all she said at last.

“I know, but I had hoped that at least I could talk to someone who knew her best.” The cat`s tail twitched, and her ears were honed in on Whisper.

“Why?” She asked, a tiny flower of pride bloomed in her chest at being known as someone close to Tangle. Blaze moved then, reaching to her throat and pulling out a necklace that had been hidden beneath her clothing.

“Do you know what this is?” She asked, and Whisper took a breath, sitting up slightly to get a better look. It was a piece of scrap metal, shiny red paint had been scraped off it in a pattern, she recognised it in surprise.

“Spiral hill? Tangle`s home?”

“It`s where we first met, her village was under attack from a horde of badniks, she and Sonic were facing them down when I arrived having felt the Sol Emeralds call me.” Whisper nodded slightly, she had heard the story enough times from Tangle already. “She was so full of energy and so loud, I found her a little intimidating and when we faced Metal Sonic, I was almost glad she didn`t talk to me much.” Whisper felt her resentment rise up again, she knew why Tangle hadn`t spoken to the foreign princess, the lemur had confided in her just how nervous she was about talking to Blaze. Her feelings must have shown though as Blaze held up a quelling hand and continued, eyes closing in memory. “I do not trust others easily, I even had my suspicions about you when I first saw you, as cruel and unfair as that is. When I went to leave though, after our victory, she came to see me and she gave me this.” She held out the pendant for Whisper to take. The metal was warm where it had been resting against the fiery princess`s chest, it wasn`t sharp as she had expected either, the edges had been melted by an extreme heat. “I wanted to ask what she meant by it, and to return the gesture in kind.”

“She liked you.” Whisper said promptly, returning the necklace to Blaze. “Would often speak highly of you. She told me she had a crush on a princess and wondered if she stood a chance at getting noticed.” Burnt out from the confession, the wolf fell silent, aware of how tense Blaze had become. The cat was gripping the melted metal tightly, staring blindly into space.

“I see.” She said at last, and now her voice was as tight with raw feeling as Whisper`s. “I knew but, I needed to be sure… I handle diplomatic issues, have high political influence over an entire country, but I haven`t a clue what to make of  _ dating _ or  _ romance _ , just making friends is hard enough. I don`t mean I`m lonely, I appreciate my own space, it`s hard finding others who aren`t offended by that- I`m sorry, this isn`t about me, I think you should read this.” Blaze pressed a neatly folded piece of worn paper into the wolf`s lap, not meeting her eyes.

Whisper read.

_ Dear Princess Blaze, _

_ This necklace is made from one of the broken pieces of badnik that we fought in Spiral hill. I wanted to give you a gift, a special kind of gift, but right now I don`t have a lot to hand. If I get to see you again (I hope I do!) I`ll ask my friend Jewel to help me find a super cool gem or  _ ~~_bokay_ _bouquay?_~~ _ bouquet of flowers! That`s more traditional choice for gifts like these, but all I had was this. I kept it because it looked cool, but also to remind me of you. You`re AMAZING like WOW! I`ve never met anyone like you before and I really really want to hang out with you! I would love to show you my home town (not on fire this time) and take you to see all the beautiful places here! But only if you want to of course. You`re very quiet (not in a bad way!) and I don`t know if you have time to mess about like that, I mean, you`re a PRINCESS. You totally have important things to do, but if those important things are anything like the adventures we`ve had here, can I please come and help? I promise I can be serious, and I`m serious about wanting to help out, especially if it means I get to see you again. OK, I don`t know how to end this so uh, bye! _

_ Tangle XOXOXOX _

Carefully, Whisper folded the paper back up again and set it to one side. Neither of them spoke as they both tried to find words for their feelings.

“I can show you.”

What?”

“Tangle took me to her home, showed me beautiful places, we can go see them for her.” Blaze stared at her, and Whisper stared back, eyes open in a rare moment of unguarded vulnerability. Both of them knew they might never get to go back to Spiral Hill, might not walk away from this themselves, but neither of them said it.

“You would do that?” Whisper got up and sat down beside her on the bed.

“For Tangle.” Blaze`s hand found Whisper`s and squeezed it softly.

“For Tangle.” She agreed, and the two of them leaned into each other, still holding hands in shared emotion and trust. 

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a lot longer than I expected lmao I enjoyed it though. Might have gone overboard on the descriptions and repeated myself, lemme know what you think :3 Thanks for reading!


End file.
